AN international sports event that paid tribute to a murdered pub landlord was today hailed a success.

More than 4,000 people flocked to Dudley’s Shazad Mela as athletes honoured 47-year-old Suvinder Singh Batth.

The father-of-four from Moxley was gunned down at Gavin’s Sports Bar, in Bilston, just after midnight on July 28. He had been a wrestler and world-class kabaddi competitor – an Indian sport where players hold their breath while trying to tag one another and wrestle opponents to the ground.

Mr Batth was remembered at Sunday’s event, which included kabaddi, football, arm-wrestling, sprinting and bench-pressing. It was organised by the Kashmir Youth Forum (KYF) and held on the town college’s Castle View Campus, The Parade.

Teams from Manchester and Dudley competed for the kabaddi trophy, presented in Mr Batth’s name, with the Black Country side victorious. Shazad Saleem, from the KYF, said: “It’s been a fitting way to pay tribute.”

The event was named after Mr Saleem’s 43-year-old father, Shahzada Saleem, who was world stone-lifting championship record holder for 23 years.

Six men and a woman have been charged with murder and appeared before Wolverhampton magistrates on August 1. Gurpreet Singh Ottalan, 21, of Western Drive, Bilston; Onkar Singh Sangha, 21, of Baborsfield, Wolverhampton; Narinder Kumar, 25, of Slade Close, West Bromwich; Jasbir Singh Takhar, 22, of Birmingham New Road, Coseley; Neesha Dubb, 19, of Western Drive, Bilston, and Jarnal Singh Bajwa, 34, of Bickley Road, Bilston, all denied the charge, but were remanded in custody.

Sukwinder Singh Sanghera, 23, of Albion Road, West Bromwich, chose not to enter a plea and was remanded in custody.

A 17-year-old from Bilston was in court on Monday last week charged with murder.

All defendants will be at Wolverhampton Crown Court for a plea and directions hearing on October 26.